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Вестн. Моск. ун-та. Сер. 19. Лингвистика и межкультурная коммуникация. 2017. № 4
СРАВНИТЕЛЬНОЕ ИЗУЧЕНИЕ КУЛЬТУР
Andrey A. Davydov
NATIVISM VERSUS RIGHT-WING TRANSNATIONALISM
IN AMERICAN RACIAL THEORIES, 1914-1924
Lomonosov Moscow State University 1 Leninskie Gory, Moscow, 119991
Racial theories exerted a crucial influence on immigration policy in the United States through the Johnson-Reed Act of 1924, which introduced stricter quotas on Southern and Eastern European migration. Analyzing these theories can provide insights into the views of elite right-wing circles in the United States, represented by well-connected activists such as Madison Grant and Lothrop Stoddard. One such insight is that fundamental ambivalence towards immigrants was more typical of these figures than nativist hostility, a tendency often de-emphasised by scholars of Whiteness Studies, who usually highlight their anti-immigrant rhetoric. Writing in the genre of racialised civilisational history, Grant and Stoddard applied racial theory to ancient and recent history in an effort to discuss immigration indirectly, confirming their picture of eternal struggle between races in general and 'white sub-races' in particular. At the same time, they lamented the tragic divisiveness of nationalism based on culture rather than race, echoing Stoddard's characterisation of World War I as 'a new Peloponnesian war'. Early twentieth-century racial theories illustrate the tension between forms of nationalism that stress different identities — race, ethnic nation, civic nation, pan-nation, 'civilisation', and others; a tension which continues to dominate modern right-wing ideological discourses about immigration and ethnic diversity.
Key words: racial theories; US race relations; interwar period; immigration; whiteness; Nordicism; nativism; transnationalism.
Most statements about history or anthropology made by Madison Grant, Lothrop Stoddard, and other key racial theorists can be explained as alle-gorically expressed opinions about trends in European immigration to the United States. Even though racial theories claimed to be global in scope, they seldom ventured into great detail beyond Europe and its settler colonies. The 'white race' was the only one to include a stable trio of 'sub-
Andrey Davydov — is a lecturer at Department of Comparative Literature and Culture at the Faculty of Foreign Languages and Area Studies of Lomonosov Moscow State University (e-mail: [email protected]).
races'1, while the rest of humanity usually appeared as less differentiated 'brown', 'red', 'yellow', and 'black worlds'.2
Historically, the idea of 'white people' was highly pliable, particularly in everyday discourse. Whiteness and nationhood could be limited only to White Anglo-Saxon Protestants, only to northwestern Europeans, only to Germanics, or only to people of a certain Northern European phenotype [Painter, 2010; Romanov, 2013; Fidarova, 2017]. It could also be expanded to include all 'Caucasians', such as Middle Easterners or North Africans3. In the popular imagination, races were not well-defined or entirely discrete, unlike in law. However, by the end of the First World War, the 'white race' tended to be equated with Europeans, though the concept of Europe itself often lacked established limits, especially in the east and southeast. For example, the Caucasus and Asia Minor remained racially ambiguous, as can be seen on Stoddard's maps4. This porousness of borders perplexed racial theorists, who attempted to attach race to a simplified version of taxonomic classifications taken from works in physical anthropology, such as those of Joseph Deniker.
Ridicule and antipathy towards a group of immigrants, such the famous series of cartoons in Harper's Quarterly satirically depicting the Irish as partblack [Painter, 2010: 141—143], did not mean that those immigrants were not seen as 'white'. The exclusion of certain European immigrants from 'whites' among manual workers remains a matter of debate [Arnesen, 2001]. It was similarly uncertain among right-wing intellectuals.
Scholars of Whiteness Studies seldom pay much attention to the inclusive element so pronounced in some theories, which supplemented xenophobia at home with a sense of 'racial solidarity'. The latter is often viewed primarily from the angle of discriminated minorities trying to argue their worth [Ignatiev, 1995]. One such instance is that of Irish workers trying to underline their shared whiteness with the dominant WASPs, and distancing themselves from African-Americans through exaggerated racial animosity and violence [Roediger, 2001].
1 This paper employs the term 'sub-race' to avoid confusion. Grant and Stoddard do not use it, instead referring to the 'white race', the 'Nordic race' (primarily Northern European; tall, light-pigmented, long-skulled), the 'Alpine race' Southern European; short, dark-pig-mented, long-skulled). When they explain the tripartite model, Nordics, Mediterraneans, and Alpines are called 'sub-species' of the white race. Stoddard, L. 1920. The Rising Tide of Color Against White World-Supremacy. New York, Charles Scribner's Sons, p. 162.
2 Stoddard offered subdivisions, especially for the 'brown world', but those were based on political rather than racial or even cultural affinities: "Nevertheless, there is a fundamental comity between the brown peoples. This comity is subtle and intangible in character, yet it exists, and under certain circumstances it is capable of momentous manifestations. Its salient feature is the instinctive recognition by all Near and Middle Eastern peoples that they are fellow Asiatics, however bitter may be their internecine feuds." Ibid., p. 55.
3 Historical and modern attempts to create a separate 'MENA' category are discussed in [Aidi, 2014: 159-194].
4 Ibid., pp. 14, 150.
By contrast, dominant ethnic groups who possess the 'white' status would seemingly try to be as exclusive as possible, guarding the membership of their group against potential candidates. They would want to push away potential candidates by denying their 'whiteness'. However, such exclusivity on the part of established 'whites' was often not the case. Bogardus social distance, measured in 1926 primarily among white university staff and students in the US [Ethington, 1997: 38], reveals a notably friendly perception of new European immigrants such as Poles, Russians, and Italians relative to African-Americans, Mexican-Americans, Chinese, Koreans, and several other groups from outside Europe.
While authors of racial theories speak about different 'branches of the white race', regional races are often placed on a single spectrum, with the 'Nordic race' positioned on its most 'European' and 'white' end.5 The geographical distribution of races on Stoddard's maps illustrates this principle well. Whereas the Nordic race is an exclusively European phenomenon, the Alpine and Mediterranean races are also wide-spread in Asia and Africa. Individual ethnicities were commonly a m lange of sub-races: one motif in racial theories involves calling attention to the similarity of Nordics from different nations, so that a predominantly Nordic Czech is more similar to a Nordic Dutchman than to an Alpine Czech — even in psychological terms. This tendency is especially pronounced in continental European theories,6 but more subdued in the United States.
Racial theories commonly feature the idea that different races and subraces are locked in a zero-sum game. For example, in contrast with his statements about the 'Nordicised' Swiss being much more developed than expected because of Nordic influence7, Madison Grant believed that Alpines had been far more creative and active culture builders before they encountered the Nordics. Lothrop Stoddard acknowledges the positive qualities of Alpines, but grimly remarks that they and the Mediterraneans8 may replace Nordics.
A closer look at racial theories makes them appear less straightforwardly xenophobic than commonly depicted in Whiteness Studies and related
5 "The Nordic race in its purity has an absolutely fair skin and is consequently the white man par excellence". Grant, M. 1936. The Passing of the Great Race: Or, The Racial Basis of European History (4th Ed.). New York, Charles Scribner's Sons, p. 27.
6 Still, Grant laments that too few of the German immigrants to the United States are Nordics, and that their population in Germany was decimated by wars, in which the warlike Nordics died disproportionately. Ibid., pp. 184—185.
7 Ibid., p. 44.
8 "Two hundred years ago the Mediterranean element in England was probably very small. The industrial revolution, however, reversed the selective process, and today the small, dark types in England increase noticeably with every generation. The swart "cockney" is a resurgence of the primitive Mediterranean stock, and is probably a faithful replica of his ancestors of Neolithic times." Stoddard, L. 1920. The Rising Tide of Color Against White World-Supremacy. New York, Charles Scribner's Sons, p. 115.
fields. Instead, they are a place of tension between nativism and 'white transnationalism', which persists among the far-right to this day, accompanying events such as Brexit [Sergienko, 2017]. Alpines and Mediterraneans in racial theories primarily serve as a vehicle for discussing the effects of European immigration. The strongest predictor for hostility and amity towards new European immigrants was the context: whenever Grant or Stoddard discuss the world and international affairs, they stress solidarity with Europeans, including immigrants. In most cases, they are more concerned with internal policy, and here nativism prevails. Thus, their outlook varies from book to book, while simultaneously presenting itself as perennial and immutable, rooted in biological truths that applied to human relations in the Dark Ages just as well as in New York City or London in the 1920s.
References
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2. Sergienko P.I. 2017. Reprezentativnie osobennosti kontseptualizirovannoy oblasti BREXIT (na material politicheskih neologizmov) [Verbal Representation Peculiarities of the Brexit Conceptual Sphere (on the Material of Political Neologisms)]. Moscow State University Bulletin. Series 19: Linguistics and Intercultural Communication, no. 1, pp. 168—177. (In Russ.)
3. Aidi H. 2014. Rebel Music. New York, Pantheon Books.
4. Arnesen E. 2001. Whiteness and the Historians' Imagination. International Labor and Working-Class History, vol. 60, pp. 3—32.
5. Anderson B. 1991. Imagined Communities. Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism, London, Verso.
6. Burgers J. 2011. Max Nordau, Madison Grant, and Racialized Theories of Ideology. Journal ofthe History ofIdeas, vol. 72, no. 1, pp. 119—140.
7. Ethington P. 1997. The Intellectual Construction of 'Social Distance: Toward a Recovery of Georg Simmel's Social Geometry'. Cybergeo (European Journal of Geography), vol. 30, pp. 1—69.
8. Etkind A. 2011. Internal Colonization. Cambridge, UK, Polity Press.
9. Guterl A.P. 2001. The Color of Race in America, 1900-1940. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press.
10. Ignatiev N. 1995. How the Irish Became White. Abingdon-on-Thames, Routledge Classics.
11. Jacobson M.F. 1998. Whiteness of a Different Color: European Immigrants and the Alchemy of Race. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press.
12. Painter N.I. 2010. The History of White People. New York, W. W Norton & Company.
13. Roediger D. 2001. Wages of Whiteness. London, Verso.
14. Romanov K. 2013. Familial Memories and Search for Identity in Michael Ignatieffs "The Russian Album" and "True Patriot Love". Moscow State University Bulletin. Series 19: Linguistics and Intercultural Communication, no. 3, pp. 164-169.
15. Spiro J. 2002. Nordic vs. anti-Nordic: the Galton Society and the American Anthropological Association. Patterns of Prejudice, vol. 36, no. 1, pp. 35-48.
16. Spiro J. 2009. Defending the Master Race: Conservation, Eugenics, and the Legacy of Madison Grant. Burlington, VT: Univ. of Vermont Press.
17. Yuill K. 2015. The Spectre of Japan: the Influence of Foreign Relations on Race Relations Theory, 1905-24. Patterns of Prejudice, vol. 49, no. 4, pp. 317-342.
А.А. Давыдов
НАТИВИЗМ ПРОТИВ «ПРАВОГО» ТРАНСНАЦИОНАЛИЗМА В АМЕРИКАНСКИХ РАСОВЫХ ТЕОРИЯХ 1914-1924 гг.
Федеральное государственное бюджетное образовательное учреждение
высшего образования «Московский государственный университет имени М.В. Ломоносова» 119991, Москва, Ленинские горы, 1
Расовые теории сыграли заметную роль в иммиграционной политике США межвоенного периода: например, они повлияли на Иммиграционный закон Джонсона-Рида 1924 г., в котором вводились жесткие квоты на иммиграцию из Южной и Восточной Европы. Анализ подобных теорий важен для исследования взглядов на расу в «правых» элитных кругах США, наиболее известными представителями которых были Мэдисон Грант и Лотроп Стод-дард. Несмотря на стереотип о радикальном нативизме подобных интеллектуалов, их работы обнаруживают двойственное отношение к иммигрантам. Работая в жанре расиализированной цивилизационной истории, Грант и Стоддард обсуждают современные им тенденции в иммиграции с точки зрения «вечной борьбы» между расами в целом и белыми «подрасами» в частности. Вместе с тем они высказываются против национализма, который основан на «иллюзорных» культурных, а не «реальных» расовых различиях - так, Стоддард сравнивает Первую мировую войну с Пелопонесской. Расовые теории начала ХХ в. могут служить примером столкновения версий национализма, опирающихся на разные идентичности: расу; этническую нацию; гражданскую нацию, цивилизацию. Этот конфликт сохраняет актуальность в современных дискуссиях «правых» течений США и Великобритании.
Ключевые слова: расовая теория; межрасовые отношения; межвоенный период; история иммиграции; нордическая теория; нативизм; транснационализм.
Сведения об авторе: Давыдов Андрей Андреевич — преподаватель кафедры сравнительного изучения литератур и культур факультета иностранных языков и регионоведения МГУ имени М.В. Ломоносова (е-mail: andrey.davydov@ ffl.msu.ru).
Список литературы
1. Фидарова Ф.К. Немецкая национальная идея и ее культурно-политическая граница в дискурсивном анализе немецкой поэзии XVIII—XX вв. // Вестн. Моск. ун-та. Сер. 19. Лингвистика и межкультурная коммуникация. 2017. № 1. С. 147-157.
2. Сергиенко П.И. Репрезентативные особенности концептуализированной области BREXIT // Вестн. Моск. ун-та. Сер. 19. Лингвистика и межкультурная коммуникация. 2017. № 1. С. 168-177.
3. AidiH. Rebel Music. N.Y, 2014.
4. Arnesen E. Whiteness and the Historians' Imagination // International Labor and Working-Class History. 2011. Vol. 60. P. 3-32.
5. Anderson B. Imagined Communities. Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism. L., 1991.
6. Burgers J. Max Nordau, Madison Grant, and Racialized Theories of Ideology // Journal ofthe History of Ideas. 2011. Vol. 72. No. 1. P. 119-140.
7. Ethington P. The Intellectual Construction of 'Social Distance: Toward a Recovery of Georg Simmel's Social Geometry' // Cybergeo (European Journal of Geography). 1997. Vol. 30. P. 1-69.
8. Etkind A. Internal Colonization. Cambridge, 2011.
9. Guterl A.P. The Color of Race in America, 1900-1940. Cambridge, 2011.
10. Ignatiev N. How the Irish Became White. Abingdon-on-Thames, Routledge Classics, 1995.
11. Jacobson M.F. Whiteness of a Different Color: European Immigrants and the Alchemy of Race. Cambridge, 1998.
12. Painter N.I. The History of White People. N.Y., 2010.
13. Roediger D. Wages of Whiteness. L., 2001.
14. Romanov K. Familial Memories and Search for Identity in Michael Igna-tieffs "The Russian Album" and "True Patriot Love" // Вестн. Моск. ун-та. Сер. 19. Лингвистика и межкультурная коммуникация. 2013. № 3. С. 164-169.
15. Spiro J. Nordic vs. anti-Nordic: the Galton Society and the American Anthropological Association. // Patterns of Prejudice. 2002. Vol. 36. No. 1. P. 35-48.
16. Spiro J. Defending the Master Race: Conservation, Eugenics, and the Legacy of Madison Grant. Burlington, 2009.
17. Yuill K. The Spectre of Japan: the Influence of Foreign Relations on Race Relations Theory, 1905-1924 // Patterns of Prejudice. 2015. Vol. 49. No. 4. P. 317-342.
